Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment Hardcover – Illustrated, November 1, 2022

What a fabulous little book! Filled with attractive illustrations and fun descriptions. Answers so many questions I had about the creations I see every day. Even as an engineer myself, there was so much to discover. At the risk of sounding like a plug, his YouTube channel is great, too.

I already knew of Grady from his YouTube channel, Practical Engineering, but I would recommend this book even to folks who don't know the first thing about engineering. I am very much not a Math Person, and for years I was very intimidated by the mere idea of engineering. Grady is so talented at explaining the information and making it accessible that I found myself not just learning some basic concepts but enjoying it too. And once I had the book in hand, I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to - as he puts it - explore the constructed environment. We see so much of this stuff, every day! It's almost like a glimpse into a strange world, all the things that make modern life possible - and comfortable!The book is well organized, the illustrations are both informative and in places very amusing (there's a poor unfortunate engineer), and while this is not necessarily aimed at kids, I feel like my ten year old nephew would have NO trouble understanding the material, and would likely enjoy it too!

This is going to sound horrible, but I cannot get through a book to save my life. I just get so bored reading, and end up giving up. However, I cannot get enough of this book. Whoever did these illustrations in this book really made sure to show the details. I absolutely love the small things about our amazing world around us. Thank you Grady for opening my eyes to how engineering structures our everyday life. I have been a mechanic for 15 years of my life, but this book is seriously making me second think going back to school to become an engineer. I hope you have the time to make another one of these amazing books

good intro to engineering

I purchased this book a while back when it first came out for my son who was about 2 or 3 and he LOVED it then and still loves it now at age 4.As you can see the diagrams are clear and easy to follow. There are also humerus things happening in many of the illustrations, which my son giggles about and he gets quite a lot of joy from.It’s a great book to just grab and flip to a random page a and learn something new.I think it’s the kind of book that he’ll be able to get more and more from over time and eventually be able to read himself.I wish Grady would make another book like this focused just on climate change - why it’s happening and what we can do to reverse it.Grady is a phenomenal communicator and I am really impressed both with this book and his YouTube channel!

…some of the illustrations are barely more than napkin sketches. Actual photos would have made a more compelling read. Overall, a solid reference for basic learning.

A useful book for high school students to open their eyes to basic engineering practices. Even as an experienced engineer i got a lot from it. I also like the video broadcasts of the author. Thanks a lot.

I like the fun illustrations used in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes watching Grady's YouTube channel, Practical Engineering. You can almost hear him saying the words as you read them. I really wish there was an audio book version of this read by Grady himself! I would be getting a copy of that too! Good job on the book! I chose this five-star rating because, for me, this book is a great extension of the YouTube channel. Thank you for writing it. I'm in Texas too and think it's pretty cool that this book is so close to home and still applies in some form just about everywhere we build stuff.